Thursday’s action is part of a sweeping review by the FDA to bring scientific scrutiny to the multibillion-dollar vaping industry after years of regulatory delays.
U.S. health regulators pledged again Thursday to try to ban menthol cigarettes, this time under pressure from African American groups to remove the mint flavor popular among Black smokers.
The FDA has long targeted menthol cigarettes for a regulatory crackdown amid warnings from doctors and other public health experts that the products are easier to start smoking, harder to quit and cause outsize harm to African Americans.
The House version of the budget, which passed in late February, included a cigarette tax increase of 50 cents per pack—and even that wasn’t nearly as much as tax advocates had hoped for.
The budget, which takes effect in July, would make a handful of one-time investments in small businesses, regional projects, student learning loss, health initiatives, broadband and police training, and it would significantly increase funding for the private school voucher program.
A House committee made significant changes Thursday to the way Indiana would spend proceeds from a proposal to hike the state’s cigarette tax for the first time in more than a decade and impose a new state tax on vaping liquids.
House Bill 1485, authored by Republican Rep. Julie Olthoff of Hebron, would increase the cigarette tax by $1 per pack and tax e-cigarettes and e-liquids.
The bill would place new restrictions on the marketing of e-cigarettes and ban flavors in tobacco products, including menthol cigarettes. It also would place a new excise tax on nicotine.
During a quit attempt, use slips as learning experiences instead of reasons to go back to smoking. Quitting smoking is like riding a bicycle: Every attempt is a way to learn what went wrong and get back on track.
The group adopted the sweeping stance at a policy-making meeting in San Diego. It aims to lobby for state and federal laws, regulations or legal action to achieve a ban, but the industry is sure to fight back.
The logic for hiking the purchase age for cigarettes and other products is clear: most underage teens who use e-cigarettes or tobacco get them from older friends.
Underage vaping has reached what health officials call epidemic levels. In the latest government survey, 1 in 4 high school students reported using e-cigarettes in the previous month, despite federal law banning sales to those under 18.
The latest lawsuit says the company targeted young people for its flavored e-cigarettes without warning that the products were highly addictive and dangerous.
